Michael Horowitz's Most Recent Posts

What does a surge protector do after it dies? Sounds like a philosophy question, but it's actually Defensive Computing.

A recent New York Times editorial on online banking suggested that many banks are not up to the task of security. However, the editorial writer mis-understands some of the technology. Some of the defensive steps suggested in the editorial are a sham, while three major dangers were omitted entirely.

The New York Public Library website was found to be hosting malicious software.

When it comes to Wi-Fi routers, WPS is bad news. Not only does it have a design flaw that reveals the Wi-Fi password, but on some routers it can't be turned off. Older routers don't support WPS at all and thus are safer.

Windows 7 was brought to its knees by the simple act of installing application software. It needs to do a better job of defending itself, especially now that there is competition that does.

The last place you would expect to hear anything negative about backing up files, is a blog on Defensive Computing. Yet here we are.

Are you running Windows 7 without Service Pack 1? If it's not on purpose, I stumbled across some reasons why Windows Update won't install SP1.

You're online one minute, then all of a sudden, websites fail to load. What to do next? Here are some steps that can help narrow down the problem.

Viewing a particular web page with Internet Explorer, if you know what to look for, indicates whether the Windows kernel is being used to render TrueType fonts. If it is, that Windows system is vulnerable to the bug that Duqu exploited and needs to have Microsoft's temporary workaround installed ASAP.

Even if you pooh-pooh Duqu, the Windows vulnerability that it attacked can also be exploited by simply viewing a web page.

Microsoft issued a workaround for the bug that Duqu exploited to install itself. Great. But, much about the way they handled the workaround leaves a lot to be desired.

Installing the latest version of Open Office (3.3.0) may, if you're not careful, install an old, vulnerable, buggy version of Java.

A defensive banking story that has nothing to do with online banking.

Some thoughts on backups, electricity and telephones.

I used to be a big fan of Firefox, now I find myself using Chrome more and more. Here are some illustrations of what I see, from my Defensive Computing perspective, as the down trend in Firefox and the improvements in Chrome.